REGENTS TEST SCORES

REGENTS TEST SCORES; How Public High School Students Fared in Five Subjects

By ELISSA GOOTMAN

Published: March 21, 2004

New York City students still trail far behind students in the rest of the state in meeting graduation requirements, Regents exam scores released last week show. Also, many more students in New York City are not even taking the exams, compared with students elsewhere in the state.

City students had a particularly difficult time with the math exam last year: only 70.4 percent of those who were supposed to graduate in June met the standard for a basic diploma, down from 74.4 percent in 2002 and 72 percent in 2001.

The statewide pass rate for math was 84.5 percent, down slightly from 86 percent the year before.

English scores in New York City also dipped, with 76 percent of students passing, down from 79 percent last year. Statewide, 87 percent of students passed the English exam, down from 89 percent in 2002.

In a sign of improvement, however, the proportion of graduates receiving Regents diplomas -- meaning they passed at least eight exams, including two each in math and science and one in a foreign language -- grew to 33 percent, from 31.8 percent in 2002 and 28 percent in 2001.

The percentage of New York City students who graduated within four years was 53.4 percent, up from 50.8 percent for the Class of 2002, according to city data. Among students who did not drop out the first two years of school, the four-year graduation rate was steady, at 57 percent.

The test scores show the final results for the class that entered high school in September 1999 and graduated in June 2003. This is the first class required to pass Regents exams in five subjects: English, math, science, United States history and government, and global history and geography, in order to graduate.

To provide a measure of school effectiveness, the test results are reported by cohorts, typically groups of students who entered high school at the same time in the ninth grade and were still enrolled four years later. This leaves out both transient students who may have received most of their high school education in a different district, and students who dropped out during the first two years of high school.

When the statistics were released, the Schools Chancellor, Joel I. Klein, used them to support the city's decision last week to require tough new promotion requirements of third graders. He said that 36 percent of the city's students are held back in ninth grade, and about 43 percent in tenth grade.

The data were released last week by the New York State Education Department. More detailed figures for all students are available from the state online at www.nysed.gov.

Data are presented for tests taken by the group entering high school in 1999 and tested through June 2003. Some schools with low numbers of students are excluded. ELISSA GOOTMAN

Chart shows the scores for all the schools in the 5 boroughs. Here is a key to the headings in the table: CLASS SIZE -- The total number of students upon which the data are based. PCT. GRAD -- The percentage of students in the cohort who graduated in four years, by June 2003 (this excludes students who dropped out during the first two years). MIN. STD. -- Scores for each test are broken down to show the percentage of students who passed with a score of 55 or higher (minimum standard). REGENTS -- The percentage of students who passed with a score of 65 or higher (shown in bar charts). A minimum score of 55 is needed to graduate with a local diploma. A score of 65 is needed to qualify for a Regents diploma.